


"R" Stands for Retribution

by bold_seer



Category: Revenge (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Family, Friendship, Gen, Revenge, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 15:21:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bold_seer/pseuds/bold_seer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blending in without blending in, Nolan is in a perfect place to observe everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"R" Stands for Retribution

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mosca](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mosca/gifts).



> S1/S2 AU. This is a story about forgiveness - and revenge. Many thanks to [partner in crime] for the beta advice on how to be less confusing!

  
_I do not have to forgive my enemies; I have had them all shot._  
– Ramón Maria Narváez, Spanish general and statesman

IV

**Coping with Drugs –**  
 _Grayson Family Member Enters Rehab_

Conrad and Victoria Grayson’s daughter Charlotte has entered rehab, seeking help for her drug addiction.

“The current year has been hard for the family,” celebrity blogger and former Grayson employee Ashley Davenport tells us.

Davenport adds that she has every confidence that over time “the Graysons will overcome these tragic events”.

Charlotte Grayson’s brother Daniel died earlier this year.

**Related news:**  
Hamptons Tragedy – _Daniel Grayson Dies at Own Engagement Party_ (729 comments)  
Family Declines to Comment – _“Devastated,” Says Source_ (578 comments)  
Investigation Ends – _Grayson and College Friend Struggled on the Beach_ (256 comments)

I

Dressed in red and white for the evening, Nolan resembles a member of a fox hunting party more than a party guest. Strictly speaking, he is not – in some attempt at subtle mockery – adhering to the Fire & Ice dress code. Or adhering to it too well. Blending in without blending in, Nolan is in a perfect place to observe, well, everyone.

Currently, they all are staring at the body, wondering what path led to Daniel Grayson lying motionless in the sand, with red on his white clothes. Those who will later claim to _know_ the Graysons, to have been there on that horrible night, shiver in the cool air and focus on Daniel as a victim of a terrible crime. Those in the know, namely Nolan, wonder if Daniel is a murder victim or also the victim of his own family’s schemes. 

The thought crosses Nolan’s mind, that this unexpected death – certainly not in any memo he ever received – could be a part of Emily’s grand master plan. But Nolan, jester at the Hamptons court and king among the misfits, billionaire among them, is not heartless. Nor is Emily, he thinks, as he meets her wide open eyes.

Nobody expected Daniel Grayson to die tonight. Not Victoria Grayson, who has never looked more human and less like a photoshopped picture than when she collapses on the ground. Not Charlotte Grayson, whose screaming still rings in all their ears even after the sound of police sirens takes over. Not Nolan and not Emily.

Definitely not the Emily Thorne who is staring in horror at the body of her fiancé. The shock, sudden grief even, when she runs to him – it’s real enough. 

The real Emily he knows narrows her eyes, all the wheels in motion in her scary, brilliant, scheming mind, as she’s deciding on her next move. You can’t avenge anyone by playing nicely.

And somewhere buried deep, Amanda Clarke must think that Daniel Grayson didn’t have the name of an innocent man. Does she feel just a hint of satisfaction? She has, surely, imagined every scenario with the Graysons experiencing even a fraction of the hurt and grief she has. 

See Emily play, operating on three levels simultaneously. Her carefully controlled mask betrays little, really not enough for someone with Nolan’s horrible see-through-layers-of-manipulation-skills. Even so, Nolan knows. This doesn’t end the game; it’s the turning point.

It ups the stakes.

II

Nolan doesn’t attend the funeral, a private family service, but expects Emily to call him afterwards. Except she doesn’t.

Of course, she could text him. Because nobody uses phones to call people anymore, do they? Send an encrypted e-mail, or, if she wants to come over in person all of a sudden, use a super secret, but-oh-so-vengeful knock only he would recognise. She deserves a Batmanda signal of her own, he thinks and imagines a yellow _”R” stands for Ross_ for himself. The joys of being a sidekick. 

But his inbox remains empty of Emily. If his phone buzzes, it’s work. And sure, running a multi-billion dollar corporation takes up some hours of the week.

Only that leaves Nolan on his own, standing on the terrace, looking at the dark sky. He tries a disconnected number a number of times, thinking about David and Emily and their empty house, about Jack Porter and the waves of the ocean, feeling more than a little lonely himself. 

He wonders if he, too, should sell his house and leave.

III

**Helping out in Haiti –**  
 _An American in Port-au-Prince_

Recently having taken over the project of running a grade school in Haiti, Montauk native Jack Porter is not afraid of work. 

Porter refuses to estimate when concrete results can be expected, but affirms they are “already making some progress”. 

Staying in Port-au-Prince with his girlfriend Amanda, Porter has no plans of returning to the United States in the near future. “My responsibilities are here in Haiti,” he acknowledges.

When asked about family and friends, Porter adds that he does miss his brother and “a couple of other people from back home.”

V

Next spring, Emily appears at the gym.

He should feel annoyed, because dumping a friend is kind of callous, but mostly he’s amazed at seeing her again. “Ems. Been a while.” 

“Nolan.” She shrugs, not looking terribly apologetic, but all the same pleased to see him. “I needed to think.”

“If we’re –” Emily raises an eyebrow at the _we_. “You’re still into _V for Vendetta?_ ” Which would make her _Emily_ Hammond, Nolan supposes. Except he’s not much of a V, himself. Not the man with the plan, he just follows Emily’s lead. This is her vengeance, after all. 

“My father deserves justice.”

What David deserves. Nolan wonders a lot about what he owes him – because there’s no doubt in Nolan’s mind that he owes David Clarke, the best man and truest friend Nolan ever met. Even if both categories were facing competition some time ago. 

But does Nolan owe him just that much – or the exact opposite? Somewhere along the line, it went from helping David look after Amanda, a desperate last promise, to simply helping Emily. And life, the world and the universe sure do owe Emily a whole lot.

“It’s not over. Not until the Graysons are over.”

_Two to go_ , Nolan counts silently, because one of them is as much David’s as she is a Grayson. Technically more so. 

“Excluding Charlotte,” Emily confirms in a low voice and looks away. What future awaits her sister, troubled already? David, almost naïve in his confidence in people, always wanted the best for everyone. He could never have imagined what his daughters would go through one day. Never considered the other side of the equation, the people with ulterior motives. The ones who exploit others. The Graysons. “Daniel wasn’t a part of the plan, either, but –” 

The Tyler Barrols in this world. “But Tyler,” Nolan finishes Emily’s sentence, remembering the knife at his throat with a shudder. Which also brings to mind – “Hey, if you need a minion, can I crash at your place?”

Emily looks at him with some mixture of fondness and slight annoyance at the perceived inconvenience. Reluctantly, she smiles. “Fine.”

VI

There are less than six steps between Nolan and the responsibility for another person’s death. Two people’s, to be precise.

Emily says, _I need you to –_ , as she always does. He does what he’s asked to, as he always does, reporting back to her on the phone. “The Treasury’s _this_ close to exposing some of Grayson Global’s shadier dealings.” Some. Oh, what one man has on his chest. 

He can hear her frown. “Conrad is running.”

“To a Southern continent,” Nolan confirms, “with a certain blonde friend.” He gives a dramatic sigh. “What a cliché.”

A week later, they’re sitting on the sofa together, watching the news. He doesn’t need to hear the rest of the news story – car crash, Brazil, two Americans – to suspect it’s too neat a coincidence. He gives her a glance. “Emily –”

She’s shaking her head. “No, but I can’t speak for Victoria.”

An eye for an eye? _You killed my lover, so I’ll kill yours_ – with a little twist. Or collateral damage. Tit for tat, indeed. “And an anonymous tip?” 

As usual, Emily neither confirms nor denies her involvement. “I need to visit Charlotte. Then, answer Victoria’s move. Let her know that someone knows.”

_What she did this summer._ “You’ll negotiate a meeting?” Anon. 

“Where everything began.” Where nothing remains of David Clarke, except memories and a mark carved into the wooden railing. 

Amanda Clarke will have her revenge.

VII

In the end, it’s no surprise Emily says _I need to do this alone_. After all, the final battle tends to feature the antagonist against the protagonist, not the protagonist and a supporting character. And Nolan has no doubt about who plays what part in this drama. He likes the behind-the-scenes work, anyway, and has never been one for the field.

Still, he can’t help but feel a little disappointed. Sitting in his office at a time like this makes him feel pretty useless. “Because I’m your cowardly sidekick and you don’t trust me to follow through with the plan?” he asks, his voice a little pitiful. 

“Because, Nolan, I don’t want you to get you hurt. And I need you to take care of the recording. In case –”

In case she can’t? He sighs, thinking that a good friend probably should ask _Are you really sure you want to do this?_ just about now. But that friend wouldn’t know Emily very well at all. 

“Hello, Emily Montoya,” he tells the dial-up signal. And because Nolan Ross is an excellent friend, he hesitates only for a second, before quickly typing up a message and clicking _send_. 

Just in case.

VIII

“I’ve always suspected you.” Nolan, sitting behind his screen, feels as if Victoria is speaking directly to him, until she adds _Emily Thorne_ , almost as an afterthought.

Ironic. Emily Thorne, master schemer, is an afterthought. Still waters and all that; Nolan isn’t exactly unfamiliar with the concept himself. 

“Victoria.” Emily, to her credit, sounds graciously neutral.

“Nothing but misfortune has befallen my family since you arrived here,” Victoria says, a dangerous undercurrent in her voice. “My son is _dead_.”

She could say the same thing about you, thinks Nolan. Wasn’t the Clarke family doing fine before David got involved with the Graysons? Before Victoria and David got involved? Daniel died, but so did David.

“I’m sorry about Daniel. Truly.” _Now, will the real Amanda Clarke please stand up?_ “A lot of people are dead, thanks to the Graysons. You framed my father.”

“It really is you,” Victoria says with contempt. “Amanda Clarke, back in the Hamptons.” And – of course Victoria would have a gun. Matching her steel grey dress even, or is it the other way around? “Don’t think for a second I’ll hesitate to use it.”

But gun or no gun, Emily can outmanoeuvre Victoria with her ninja moves. Unless – 

Something cold in his heart.

Fact: Emily Thorne plans in advance. Every single step along the way. If something goes wrong, she goes back into planning. Immediately. 

So, would she do that, for revenge? Set Victoria up as the Graysons set David up? Except it’s not really a set-up if Emily ends up dead in the real, live world. While Nolan is, what, busy following the events on his screen? Watching a melodrama? Further proof this plan sucks. 

“Goodbye, Amanda.” One, two... 

“MOM, DON’T –”

But maybe his back-up plan doesn’t suck. Victoria turns, as Charlotte Grayson, home from rehab, enters the scene of the confrontation, holding on to a phone. 

That’s when the gun goes off.

IX

Dressed in pinstripe, Nolan accompanies Emily to Victoria Grayson’s funeral. The most callous attendees wonder if she even bled blue.

“My mother,” Charlotte raises her champagne glass in salute. “No matter what.” Not yet twenty and her family of eighteen years is gone. It’s not the kind of thing you can easily overlook. 

Then again, she has one person still, doesn’t she? Emily – is all she has left. 

“You didn’t kill my family,” Charlotte says to Emily after her speech. “But you wanted to, didn’t you?” 

“I’m so sorry, Charlotte.”

“For my loss?” She’s suppressing a laugh. “You wanted the Graysons to pay. To ruin my family to avenge your father.”

“Our father.”

“I was born a Grayson, _Amanda_ ,” she says pointedly. “I never forgive – anything.”

Nolan, lurking behind Emily like a watchdog, clears his throat discreetly and hands the flash drive over to Emily. “This,” she says and holds it between her thumb and index finger. “What it takes to finally clear our father’s name.” Their father. Again, the emphasis on them, together.

“Me?” Charlotte carefully takes the flash drive from Emily’s hands, staring at it with a look of wonder on her face. “You want me to do it?” Suddenly, her expression turns sour. “Choose him over my family.”

“It’s a lot to ask, I know.” Emily’s tone is gentle and soothing. 

“Whatever they did, I’m still a Grayson,” Charlotte counters with a stubborn, proud edge to her voice that reminds Nolan of Victoria. “I can’t change the family I was born into.” 

“I see.” Emily’s face is a calm, blank surface; impossible to know what’s going on underneath. 

“That was anticlimactic,” Nolan remarks, when they’re walking away from the reception. Emily is silent, staring straight into the distance. He continues, “I was rooting for you two to make up.”

They make it to fifty steps, before they hear a tentative _Amanda?_ , then _Emily!_ , more forcefully.

Emily turns around, Nolan turns around, and there’s Charlotte, tip-toeing after them in her four-inch Louboutins, the flash drive still in her hand. Everyone stops.

“He deserves better,” says Emily. “Our father deserves the truth. They all do. We do.”

Charlotte bites her lip. “I can try to forget,” she says slowly. “Decide to.” 

So that one day, David Clarke’s daughters can be sisters.

_Brings tears to your eyes, doesn’t it?_

X

**After the Lies and Family Secrets –**  
 _Grayson Survivor Wants Clean Slate_

The revelation about Grayson Global’s involvement in the Flight 197 conspiracy has shaken investors’ trust in the company. 

Heir to the Grayson empire, Charlotte Grayson believes in a future for the company, but maintains confronting the past, even embracing it, is necessary so that “we can finally put it behind us.”

Grayson reveals she is planning to change her personal name to honour a deceased relative, but declined to mention whether in tribute to the Grayson or Harper side of the family.

This will not affect the company name.

_To err is human; to forgive, divine._  
– Alexander Pope, English poet


End file.
